A blessed revelation God's given
us in His Word while God and I shall be. I am His and He is mine. Turn with me if you will to the
Song of Solomon chapter 2. The Song of Solomon is a book
describing intimate, passionate love. The intimate, passionate
love of Solomon for one who is spoken of here as the Shulamite
and the love of the Shulamite for Solomon. But the whole of
these eight chapters is intended not to describe or to in any
way tell us about that relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite. It is a poetic story inspired
by God the Holy Spirit to give us a picture of a love far more
intimate than that which any man and woman enjoy with one
another. passions far deeper, far more
abiding than the passion that love that any man has for a woman
or any woman for a man. The song is all about the love
of Christ for his church and the love of his church for him.
You will not understand this book at all if you seek to interpret
it by any carnal means. It is all about that which is
spiritual. You attempt to apply the carnal,
it becomes gross and immoral. It is that which speaks of the
love of Christ for his bride and the love of his bride for
him. My subject tonight is a perfect husband and a lovesick bride. A perfect husband and a lovesick
bride. And the fact is that so long
as we are in this world, so long as we live in this body of flesh,
struggling with sin and unbelief, knowing what we are by nature,
while at the same time rejoicing in what God has made us by his
grace in Christ Jesus, while we live in this world, God has
fixed it so that we continually remain lovesick for our Redeemer. this second chapter of the Song
of Solomon, begins with the description of this intimate love between
Christ and his church and the bride expressing her lovesickness. And then it speaks of a time
of revival when the winter is past. And it concludes with the
blessed declaration of assurance that I am my beloved's and my
beloved is mine. Let's read the chapter together
and then I'll come back to verses one through seven and perhaps
in the next week or two deal with the rest of the chapter.
There is a blessed obscurity as you read this book. You find
it very difficult at times to determine who is speaking about
whom. Is it the bride speaking about
her beloved husband or is it the husband, the Lord Jesus,
speaking about his beloved bride? The obscurity is deliberate. It's not accidental. Because
the word spoken very often may be very plainly and clearly applied
to both. Because what Christ is, we are
in him. Can you grasp that? What Christ is, you just carry
that as far as you can carry it. What Christ is, as the God-man,
our mediator, he's made us to be in him. I am the rose of Sharon
and the lily of the valley. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight. His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to his banqueting
house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons. Comfort me with apples, for I
am sick of love. His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O you daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
you stir not up, nor await my love till he please. The voice
of my beloved, behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a
young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the
winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The
flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing birds
is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig put it forth, her green figs, and the vines with the
tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
come away. Oh, my dove, thou that art in
the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs,
let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet
is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes,
the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender
grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am
his. He feedeth among the lilies until
the daybreak and the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved,
and be thou like a roe or a young heart. upon the mountains of
Bithyr. In this chapter, we have an inspired
picture of that intimate, intimate love which exists between Christ
and his church, and it's an expressed desire for fellowship, sweet,
constant, abiding fellowship with our Redeemer. And in the
midst of these seven verses, the bride speaks of being sick
of love. Now, some of you may think you
know what that is, and then some of you may know what that is. I was just a teenage boy when
I met Shabelle. I was 16 years old. Started dating
when I was 17. We were engaged before I was
18. The year we were engaged, I took
off to Springfield, Missouri. I saw her twice that whole year. I know what it is to be sick
of love. I never had a moment of homesickness. Sadly, there was nothing in my
home to get sick over except being there. But I knew what
it was to ache. to ache just to see her, just
to hear her voice. That love sickness comes about
when one, your love is parted from you by distance that can't
be made up. And it's even greater when there's
a wedge between you, when something has caused a rift, then you're
tormented. And here is the love sickness
she speaks of. I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. He brought me to the banqueting
house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge
you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds
of the field, that you stir not up, nor await my love till he
please. When I can say, My God is mine
when I can feel his glories shine. I tread the world beneath my
feet, and all the world counts good and great. But when he hides
his face, when he conceals himself from me, things are far different. Listen to this. Said, oh, that I were as in the
months past. In the days when God preserved
me. When his candle shined upon my
head. And when his light walked through,
when by his light I walked through darkness. As I was in the days
of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle. When the Almighty was yet with
me, when my children were yet about me, when I washed my steps
with butter and the rock poured me out rivers of oil. Turn to
Isaiah for just a minute. Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter
54. The chapter begins with the Lord
God calling us by his prophet to sing and rejoice because God's
increased his church. And then in verse 7, the Lord
says, for a small moment, have I forsaken thee. He never really forsakes us,
but it sure appears it. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. With one blessed assurance about
these times of spiritual darkness, these times when the Lord hides
his face, when he appears to have forsaken us, is he promises
in great mercy to gather us again to himself. In a little wrath,
in a little wrath. I love the way he puts this.
He's never angry with us. He's never, he never punishes
his children. He punished our sins in his son,
but he does correct his children and his correction appears to
be wrath. So he says in a little wrath,
in a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment. But with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer. For this, that is my covenant,
my promise, my grace is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as
I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over
the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee
nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart
and the hills be removed. But my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. I know I'm fully convinced and
I rejoice in the fact that our God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is
the omnipresent God. He's everywhere. He's everywhere. Whether we sense his presence
or don't, he is everywhere present. David said, whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I take my wings and fly into
the heavens, you're there. If I descend to the depths of
the grave, you're there. He said, God's everywhere. I
know that the Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, is always present with
his people. Sometimes people think, they've
got things all figured out and that things all the religion
seems to be all fact and Fact and fact in fact, and so we shouldn't
pray for the Lord's presence. We're always in his presence
Read the book and see how David spoke of his presence. I We rejoice
to know that the Lord is always present with his people. Where
two or three gather in his name, he says, there am I in the midst
of them. He walks amidst the seven churches. He walks with
his people, his church, compared as those in the valley among
the grove of myrtle trees. He's always with his own. But
what we want is his manifest presence. We want to experience
his presence. I know that Christ, our Lord
Jesus, is always with each of his people all the time. Rejoice
in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. And I know
that he always does what's best for his people. He will bring us at last into
his everlasting presence with him in his own image conformed
perfectly, perfectly to him in heavenly glory. I know that our
souls are secure. I'm fully aware of that. I know
that. I know that when peace like a
river attended my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever
my lot, Thou hast taught me to say from my heart, it is well. It is well with my soul. I know
those things. But I also know that there are
times when our Lord withdraws his manifest presence. Times
when he won't speak to us and won't let us speak to him. Times
when he hides his face and won't allow us to see him. Turn over
to chapter 5 of the Song of Solomon, verse 6. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spake.
Too often it does. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him but he gave me no
answer. He gave me no answer. You see,
the believer's life is not just theory. It is not just doctrine. It is not just learning. David,
if we know God, ours is life with Christ and in Christ. It is a living a living union. Men and women may agree just
to exist together because they're married and have a sense of duty.
Believers don't live like that with Christ. We live with him
because we want him. We walk with Him because we desire
Him. Our lives, our hearts, our souls
pant after Him like the deer pants after the water brook when
it's been running, fearing for its life, thirsting, wanting
the water. So we want our Redeemer and His
fellowship. But sometimes He hides His face. He won't speak. He won't answer
us. Sometimes he withholds himself
from us because of our sin, our unbelief, or our neglect. In fact, that's usually the case.
That's usually the case. Clearly, that's the case in that
passage we just read in Song of Solomon 5. Sometimes he withdraws
himself from us only to increase our awareness that we desperately
need him all the time. Whenever he's pleased to withdraw
his manifest presence, whenever he does, no matter how painful
the experience, no matter how bitter the absence of sweet fellowship
is, when he withdraws himself from us, he intends to do us
good. He intends to awaken us from
our lethargy. He intends to draw out our heart's
love for him because our love for him wanes so quickly. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. He withdraws himself from
us because he intends to return to us. and the sweet returns
are sweeter every time. Every time. If I go away, he
says, if I go away, I will come again. I will not leave you comfortless. What a promise. If I go away,
well, that's talking about a second coming. I'll tell you what, if
you want to leave it with that, that's all right with me. But
it's our Lord speaking to me. And he says, if I go away, I
will come again. And I will receive you unto myself.
And I will not leave you comfortless. But for us, it's a sad, sad time
when Christ Jesus withholds his manifest sweet communion. This is what John Newton was
talking about when he wrote that hymn I love so much, how tedious
and tasteless the hours When Jesus no longer I see, sweet
prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
to me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim, the fields strive in vain to look gay. But when I am happy
in him, December's as pleasant as May. I am sick of love, the
bride here says. All right, let's look at these
seven verses in chapter two. First, there is here a very tender
allegorical comparison. In verses one through three,
it's common for lovers to use poetic comparisons to describe
one another. And in the verses before us,
both Christ and his bride use poetic comparisons to describe
their love for one another. I think in the opening verse,
it is the Lord Jesus who is speaking. He says, I am the rose of Sharon
and the lily of the valleys. And then he says, as the lily
among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Here he describes
himself And then he describes the people of his choice. His
loved, chosen, redeemed, called ones. Our beloved savior is to
all his people the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.
The rose of Sharon. I presume speaks concerning his
redeeming blood. In the eyes of the world, obnoxious. Folks speak of us talking about
the blood as being somehow crude and out of date. It's just out
of taste with people. But we're redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Oh, how I thank God for the blood. The rose of Sharon gives off
the sweet smelling nectar of redeeming love and pardoning
grace and complete atonement. The lily of the valleys speaks
of our Lord's righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is
that through which we have been made pure and white before God. Lily, the word translated lily
here comes from a root word, which means whiteness. And it
shaped the lilies like an umbrella. And the Lord's righteousness
like an umbrella covers us in our many, many valleys. Christ
is the lily both to cover and to cheer us. And we are made
to be the very righteousness of God in him. His righteousness
really is ours. His righteousness is imputed
to us in free justification, that word impute. It's a word
I guess we commonly use in day-by-day language, but it simply means
it's laid to our account. It's laid to our charge. It is
accounted to us. But having righteousness accounted
to me is not something I can very well experience. Having
righteousness accounted to me is not something that changes
anything in me. The righteousness of Christ is
imparted to us in sanctification, in regeneration, in the work
of God, the Holy Spirit, making us new creatures in Christ. Christ
is formed in you. He is the Lord, our righteousness,
and we're made partakers of the divine nature. On the cross of
Christ Jesus, we were made righteous legally. When our Lord Jesus
cried, it is finished. And when the Lord comes and sprinkles
us with his blood in the experience of grace, we're made the righteousness
of God internally, a new man created in us in righteousness
and in true holiness. The church of God in this world
is here described as a lily among thorns. Thorns being the cares
of this world. the people of this world, our
own corrupt nature. And here is a tender comparison
of our Lord Jesus, our savior, as a fruitful tree. Verse three. He is as the tree. He is the tree of life in the
paradise of God is compared here to an apple tree as the apple
tree among the trees of the wood. So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under a shadow with
great delight. And his fruit was sweet to my
taste. He's a fruitful tree. He says,
from me is thy fruit found. He is a shade tree. I sat down
under his shadow with great delight and his fruit. Oh, how sweet
to my taste. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Have you tasted forgiveness? Have you tasted
life? Have you tasted acceptance with
God? Have you tasted freedom in Christ
Jesus? Have you tasted guiltlessness
before God? His fruit is sweet to my taste. And then there is a tender remembrance
spoken of in verse 4. She says, he brought me to his
banqueting house. and his banner over me was love."
The bride lovingly remembers and gratefully acknowledges that
she has all the blessings of the king's house only because
of the king's grace. And she remembers the first time
she came to know his love to her. That's a pretty good thing
to do. That's a pretty good thing to
do. Believer will do well to keep
a book of remembrance and remember the blessed experiences of God's
grace as best you can and call them to mind in times of darkness
when your soul's in trouble. You remember the first revelation
of the Savior's love to you. He brought me into his banqueting
house. He brought me home. and he put
a banner over me. And his banner over me was love. His banner over me was love. Perhaps this is what's intended
by the allegory. She is saying he brought me home,
brought me to his house where there's always feasting. He brought
me to his house where there's always plenty. He brought me
to his house and he made me to understand that everything about
me and my relationship with him is flowing from his everlasting
love for me. He brought me to his banqueting
house and spread his table a feast of fat things, fat things, wines
upon leaves well refined, feasting on covenant mercy, free election,
blessed redemption, saving free grace, and preservation, perseverance
kept by his grace. The wine of his house is the
fellowship and communion of Christ himself. In verse 5, there is this expressed lovesickness,
remembering what I've experienced, remembering what I've known of
my Savior and His grace, realizing that which is lost when He withdraws
Himself, knowing something of the bliss and joy of His manifest
presence, even While I enjoy his presence, I fear losing it. And when it's gone, my heart
is heavy because he does not make himself known. Stay me with
flagons. Comfort me with apples, for I
am sick of love. This is what she's saying. What I want, what I want is Him. Him. Shelby and I, turn over to Philippians
3 for a minute. Shelby and I travel a lot. We're going from the house a
lot. I guess this is especially true
now that faith is grown, married, lives away. But it was true back
when she was at home as well. She will often say to me, I'm
perfectly happy and at home wherever we are together. Wherever we
are together, this is home. Doesn't matter whether it's Super
8 Motel or whether it's Marriott or whether it's back here. Wherever
we are together, This is hope. That's the expression here. She's
saying what I want, my Lord, is not so much the banqueting
and the feasting upon the fat things and the wine upon leaves
well refined, not so much all the joys and the fruit that I
find sitting under the shadow of this great tree. What I want
is you. You. Here in Philippians chapter
3, the Apostle Paul expresses it this way, that I may know
him. This is what I want. I give up
everything that I may know him. Paul, don't you know him? He
knew him, Bill. He'd known him for a long time.
He's now about to die for him. And still at the end of his days,
he says that I may know him. I want to know him. I want to
know him and the power of his resurrection. What is the power
of his resurrection? The power of his resurrection
is the power of his grace by which we live. The power of his
resurrection is the power of his atonement, his shed blood
made known in us by which we are declared to be the sons of
God. power of his resurrection and
the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know in the blessed
sweet experience of day by day cleansing that I am one with
him in all that he suffered and I want to know him being made
conformable unto his death. What on earth is that talking
about? I'd like to be put to death like him. No. No, that's
not it. No. If I can avoid pain, I want
to. I frequently say to my family
doctor and I say it about all the others who have anything
to do with anything serious, I tell them death is not a problem. Death is not, I don't mind dying. The only reason I'm here seeing
you is because I want you to prevent me from feeling any pain
in the process. I don't want any pain, but this
is not talking about being conformed to him physically in his death. It's talking about being conformed
to him as Jehovah's obedient servant who was made obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Bobby, I want to know
my Redeemer in such a way as to live like Him to the end of
my days, in complete consecration to God my Savior. I long for
Him. I long for His return. I ministrate betwixt the two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better, or to remain here with you. But if I must remain here,
let me have the refreshing comfort of his grace. Stay me with flagons. Comfort me with apples. Flagons
of wine representing his love. Apples representing the sweet
promises of the gospel. The promises of the gospel are
compared to apples of gold. A word fitly spoken is like apples
of gold in pictures of silver. And then in verse six, he speaks
of sweet, sweet comfort. His left hand is under my head. His right hand doth embrace me. Oh, bless his name. Our Lord
knows how to comfort our distressed hearts. John Gill said, with
regard to this passage, the church, having desired to be stayed,
supported, strengthened, and comforted, presently found her
beloved with her, who with both hands sustained her. And our Lord Jesus, with both
hands, sustains us. with both hands, embraces us. With both hands, he comforts
us with tender love and care, showing intimate union and communion
with us, speaking here of our safety and our security in his
arms. Oh, indeed, it's true. Our beloved
Lord and Redeemer comes again and again And he again and again
takes us in the embrace of his arms and makes himself known
to us. And then there's an admonition
given in verse seven. I charge you, oh, you daughters
of Jerusalem. Who are these daughters of Jerusalem?
Our little sisters. These daughters of Jerusalem,
these who are also a part of his bride. You see, I told you
this is an allegory. It cannot be interpreted in any
sense as being the real relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite.
It would be a horrible travesty to do that. This is talking about
the whole Church of God. And she gives a charge. By the
rows and by the hinds of the field that you stir not up nor
awake my love till he pleads. having experienced the sweetness
of Christ's communion, the manifestation of his love, we greatly desire
that it continue. I can't fault Peter too much.
He was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he said, Lord, let's build
three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for you.
And frankly, I think he was just being generous with Moses and
Elijah. Hey, Lord, I want to stay right here forever. I want to see this forever. I want to be here in this mountain
with your glory shining upon me forever. And Lord said, no,
no. And he doesn't intend for us
to live like that in this world. You see, nothing grows much on
the mountaintops. We drive across those mountains
in the west. They're not like the beautiful,
smoky mountains where I'm from. Not like the mountains we have
around here. They're stark, big, bleak, and ugly. You get up so high, there's nothing
there but rocks. Nothing. Just rocks. And the
air is real thin. And it makes you dizzy. And it's
not good for you. but in the valley where the waters
run, and the soil is fertile, and the shades come in darkness,
and the winter freeze is felt, and the heavy, heavy, heavy air
of the summer is felt. That's where things grow. And
so the Lord keeps his people mostly in the valley. and keeps
us mostly seeking his face. I know that the Lord Jesus will
come. He will come to us and he will withdraw himself from
us according to his own will and pleasure, his own wisdom
and grace. Stir not up, nor awake my love
till he please. But we must be careful that we
do nothing to provoke him. Don't grieve him. Don't neglect
him. Don't despise him. Stir not up,
nor wait my love till he please. Turn to Ephesians chapter four,
and I'll wrap this up. Ephesians four. Verse 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption. What a
sweet word. Grieve not. Grieve not. People that you don't care anything
about make you angry by their behavior. People that you dearly
love grieve you by their behavior. A father sees his son running in a path he knows will
lead to destruction. And the father's grieved. He
hurts. He hurts. He shows anger, but
he's grieved. Mother sees her daughter running
in a path she knows will bring her shame and destruction, and
she can't stop her, and she shows anger. But her heart bleeds for
that child. She's grieved. Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God. children of God, whereby you're
sealed into the day of redemption. Verse 23, be renewed in the spirit
of your mind that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting
away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor, for
we are members one of another. Be angry, and sin not. Let not
the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. Be sure you understand what it's
talking about here. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth. That's not talking about using crude words. Though
I advise you don't do that. You men, and especially women,
speak as gentlemen and speak as ladies. Don't speak filth.
There's just no need in it. There's just no need in it. It
doesn't benefit anyone. But that's not what this is talking about.
That's not what this is talking about. Don't say anything to injure
Lindsay Campbell. Nothing. Nothing. Not to him
or about him. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. Say nothing ill of God's people.
Say nothing ill of them. Read on. I know that's what he's
talking about. He's talking about the grieving of the Holy Spirit.
Look at verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Well,
how are you going to answer that? I'm not. I'm not. Well, did you hear what James
Jordan said about you? No, but I don't really care. Well, let
me tell you, I'd rather you didn't. And what are you going to say?
Nothing. Nothing. How are you going to how are
you going to respond to that? I'm not going to respond. Not going
to. It'll end if you just keep your
mouth shut. Leave it alone. Leave it alone.
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. That kind of makes it irresistible,
doesn't it? I can't forgive David for that. God forgave you. God forgave me. Why, why shouldn't
I be able to forgive you for something? Verse one, chapter
two, be there for followers of God. That word followers, you
write out somewhere, imitators, imitators. Here's a place where
imitation is good. Be you therefore imitators of
God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Oh, truly, his name yields the
richest perfume and sweeter Then music his voice, his presence
disperses my gloom, and makes all within me rejoice. So Lord, stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples, hold me in your embrace. Amen.